Alright, I don't know if I should trust in what my fuel gauge has shown me today or not. I had 1/4 tank of fuel earlier this afternoon and filled it with a few gallons since I had class tonight. I was only able to put in $20 worth, which at $4.45/gal. (Thanks, Obama ), only got me 4.4 gallons. That moved the gauge up to just under 1/2 a tank. I reset my trip odometer before I left the station and am currently showing 39.7 miles. The gauge is already back down to 1/4 tank and quick calculations tell me 9.5mpg!!! . I've been driving this thing for the best fuel consumption I can possibly get for the past month!

Should I rely on the "accuracy" of my gauge since it's well known that our gauges aren't very truthful or am I just too worrisome about this? What are the chances of a high-mile injection pump starting to get tired causing high fuel consumption? If chances are good, then I'm even more concerned about how much life is left in my pump.

 

I would not put much faith in the accuracy of the fuel gauge or any other stock gauge in our trucks.

 

Just a comment, I don't know about your question, but I do know that I stifle myself from making political comments on this forum. I don't agree with what you said, or , for that matter, the many little jabs that seem to get by the Admins. on this forum I believe there is another forum for that. Not everyone agrees with you and would be interested in how you can blame the president for the price of oil. I don't really care if this comment is removed, but in the interest of fairness and equity, your comment should be removed also. As M1lover so succinctly pointed out to me recently, not everyone agrees with me, or you or anybody. Off soap box, I just couldn't let it go. Sitting here ready for the onslaught...Mark

 

Well you probably had a little air trapped in there as well. 4.5 gallons, does not a quarter tank make. And no gauge is 100% accurate, certainly not when they are 20 yrs old.

Mark, I didn't even acknowledge the reference, until I read your "rant" (only used for a lack of a better term, not meant to be offensive) and I think, stifle yourself, you did not.

 

First. The title is an oxymoron

Next, unless there's some obvious real trouble, like puddles of fuel under it, gaining oil, black smoke, white smoke, poor performance, etc, the first part I would replace would be the fuel cap......with a locking one.

 

With my gauge, the last quarter take is almost twice as much fuel as any other quarter. I only take it serious when it says full our empty, the rest of the time I go by millage.

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Mines never worked I go by mileage. 370 miles and the low fuel light comes on.

 

7 Gal in the tank when the light comes on.

 

When my "Low Fuel" light comes on, I have 10 gallons left. At the 1/2 way mark, I have 23 gallons.

No, I do not trust the fuel gauge for "accuracy". It is consistently off, consistently in these parameters, but not accurate.

 

I knew I was worrying about it too much. Accuracy seems to fall significantly below a 1/2 tank. Under acceleration, I can watch the need drop as what fuel is in the tank sloshes all over the place. Above a 1/2 tank, it hardly does it, if at all.

I replaced the fuel cap just a few weeks ago with a locking one!

Anytime I'm going somewhere, I always give my truck a quick glance over before getting in it and over the last month or so, haven't noticed any puddles or drips whatsoever, except for the occasional drip from blowby tube.

I haven't seen my low fuel light come on yet. As I mentioned about fuel sloshing under acceleration, in the past, if the level was around 1/4 tank the gauge would swing down and around an 1/8 tank, the low fuel light would come on. I replaced the float/sending unit on the canister a few months back and have seen the gauge all the way to just above empty and haven't seen the low fuel light come on at all. Unless the bulb coincidentally burnt out .

Does anybody happen to know the Ohms range of the factory sending unit? I'm curious if any aftermarket gauges would work with it or maybe it's just better to use an aftermarket sending unit to drive said gauge.